Cantatas (2004)/ Caldara, Antonio

The sonatas are essentially in the Corelli mould of sonate da camera, but half a generation on – more regular in their patterns, rather perkier in their manner, their counterpoint always beautifully dovetailed. I don’t detect a specially original voice behind them, but the music is always pleasingly and elegantly formed. Four of the 12 sonatas of his Op 2 are recorded here, including the last of the set, which in the Corelli tradition is an extended ground-bass movement, and is carried off with a lot of ingenuity. There is wit, too, in some of these pieces: try for example the sparkling little Corrente from No 8. The Four Nations Ensemble play them with real feeling for the idiom as well as impeccable technique, and the recorded sound is bright and true.(...)|